


Everything is never as it seems.

by slinkies71



Series: 5SOS at Hogwarts [1]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, M/M, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-27
Packaged: 2018-03-13 04:26:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3367808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slinkies71/pseuds/slinkies71
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Calum thought he knew which type of people belonged in each Hogwarts house. It wasn't until he met a certain Hufflepuff that he started to change his perception.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Year 1

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously, I own neither the Harry Potter universe nor the 5SOS boys, and I am very obviously not making any profit from this. The title of this comes from Fireflies by Owl City.

When Calum first heard about the different Hogwarts houses he figured that it was pretty easy to see where everybody would fit in. The Gryffindors were the jocks, the Slytherins were the mischievous snobs, the Ravenclaws were the nerds, and the Hufflepuffs were the dweebs. It would be like something out of that muggle movie his older sister was always watching.

So when it was his turn to go to Hogwarts, he figured it was pretty much a given that he would be in Gryffindor. He was super into Quidditch, having already been scouted by the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team the summer before, and figured that his sorting would be an easy one. He was obviously a Gryffindor.

He was right, about his sorting that is. But Calum was most certainly not right about the rest of the Hogwarts houses.

* * *

 

The first inkling that Calum had that maybe his ideas about the different houses were wrong was on the first day of term his first year. He and his fellow year mates had Herbology first period with the Ravenclaws, and Calum had left breakfast earlier than his other roommates so as not to be late.

But with the moving staircases, scary older kids throwing things all around the hallways, and all of the nervousness of the first day of school, Calum quickly got lost. He ducked around a weird one-eyed witch statue into a small alcove and hugged his knees to his chest as he slid down the wall.

 _I should never have come here. I’m going to miss my first class, and then I’ll fail and be kicked out of school and my mom will cry and I’ll have my wand broken, and –_ a strong hand gripping his shoulder pulled Calum from his thoughts.

“Are you OK?” The boy asking was crouched down in front of him. Calum couldn’t see which house the boy was in because he had his (regulation!) sweater stuffed in his school bag on his hip, but he was smiling at him with warm green eyes, and Calum finally felt his pulse start to settle.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” mumbled Calum, rubbing his face and trying to calm his breathing.

“Really,” scoffed the boy. It wasn’t a question, and it didn’t seem very nice, but he was still smiling at Calum. “I can definitely believe that. I mean, you’re not hiding behind a statue with your hands over your face or anything.”

“I'm fine! I just don’t know how to get to the greenhouses so I’m going to be late to my first class and I don’t want to make a bad impression, or miss class and get in trouble and lose house points on the first day!” snapped Calum, instantly feeling bad about it. But the boy didn’t seem to mind.

“That’s not a problem. Lukey here,” he gestured to a small blonde boy that was half tucked behind him, “is also on his way down to the Greenhouses. I’ll just show you the shortcut.” And with that he pulled Calum up, picked up his bag, dusted his shoulders off, and swept off down the hallway, clearly expecting to be followed.

Calum and the other boy – Lukey? – scrambled to follow him. They went up three staircases, through two hallways, back past the great hall, and out a side passage. There was a small grass path from the door leading down through a couple rose bushes that ended right in front of the greenhouses. From where they stood, Calum could see that only two or three other students had managed to make it to the classroom.

“If you follow this path down, you’ll get to class on time,” he waved down the hill. “You guys good from here? Great! Bye firsties!” And with that he turned around and darted around another corner, leaving the two first years alone.

“So, uh, is he in your house?” asked Calum as they made their way down the path.

“Nope! I was corned earlier by a couple of 6th years outside of the great hall, and he came in and saved me! And they left me alone really quickly!!” There was nothing but hero-worship in his voice, and when Calum glanced over his shoulder at the other boy, he was looking down at the ground with an ear-splitting smile on his face.

“What’s his name?”

“His name’s Michael, and he’s in Hufflepuff! He’s really awesome! I thought that this school was going to be just like my old one - you know, filled with jerks - but Michael said that if those kids started bothering me again, to come find him! Even though they’re so much older! Anyway, what’s your name?” Luke seemed incapable of not smiling or talking a mile a minute; just listening to him made Calum feel better about starting school.

“Calum. I’m a first year Gryffindor.”

“Hi! I’m Luke, and I’m a first year too! But I’m in Ravenclaw. That's ok though, I hear that classes are shared between different houses. I wonder how many – ARGHH,“ The rest of what Luke was saying was lost in a shout of surprise as his foot slipped, and his whole body went falling forward. His arms windmilled around grabbing onto Calum’s shoulder and then they both went tumbling down.

By the time both boys had climbed back onto their feet, they were covered in mud, leaves and laughing. Distantly they heard the bell ring, signaling the start of class. Calum looked at Luke and smiled mischievously.

“Race you!”

It wasn’t until after dinner that day that Calum thought back to what his new friend Luke had said. _He’s in Hufflepuff!_ _He came in and saved me!_ Calum smiled to himself as he pulled up his covers; maybe Gryffindors weren’t the only brave ones in school.

 

 


	2. Year 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe Slytherins aren't the only mischievous ones.

The second time Calum found himself surprised by the different Hogwarts houses happened in his second year. He was walking back from Quidditch practice – he was only on the reserve team, but four members of the team were graduating 7th years, so he wasn’t too upset – when he accidentally stepped on Mrs. Norris’ tale.

The cat made a sound like a dying banshee and Calum jumped about a foot and a half in the air in surprise. Mrs. Norris shot off into the darkness of Hogwarts, hissing and spitting, and Calum sighed. He would never be able to get away with anything, according to student legend, once a student pissed off Filch’s cat, that student was blacklisted.

 _Dammit_ , Calum thought, and then looked around guiltily, as if his mom could hear what he was thinking, and would jump out of a corner to scold him for his language. _I need to ask Luke if I can borrow his herbology notes for the essay due next week._

Somehow, despite their house differences, Luke and Calum had become the best of friends last year. Calum would think that this has something to do with both of them not fitting in entirely with their other dorm-mates, let alone the rest of the school, but Luke seemed to have friends in every house. Just last week Calum saw him talking with Louis Tomlinson, the 7th year Slytherin chaser!!

Yet no matter what, Luke always seemed to make time for Calum. Which was great, given that Calum had a lot of friendly acquaintances, but he considered Luke his only true friend here. What Calum hadn’t managed to figure out though, was how Luke was acing herbology. Luke was allergic to half of the plants that they studied, and just hopeless with the rest of the practical work during class, and it seemed mighty suspicious to Calum that Luke had the best grade of the 2nd years.

But anytime Calum asked Luke about herbology, Luke would blush, duck his head, and then avoid answering the question! After the eight or ninth time asking him, Calum had finally given up and started asking to borrow his notes, thinking that maybe Luke just took better notes in class. But his notes covered things that were definitely not mentioned in class! Who knew that Mandrakes were actually distant cousins to the Whomping Willow, and could, as adults, actually control the tree? No one! Except Luke that is.

But Luke would be in his common room right now, and definitely not in the library where Calum could easily find him. If Calum hurried though, he could make it to the owlery, send a short note to Luke asking him to bring his notes with him to breakfast, and be back at the Gryffindor common room before curfew. That decided, he switched directions and started hurrying along.

As he entered the owlery, he automatically looked around for his favorite owl, a big beautiful golden masked owl that was definitely not a school owl, but had always consented to carrying a letter for Calum. Sure enough, sulking in the corner was Daniel.

“Hey Daniel,” Calum called softly. “Are you too tired to carry a quick note for me?”

The one thing about Daniel that Calum had learned very quickly was that Daniel liked to sleep. Hooting balefully, Daniel opened one eye, evaluated Calum and then decisively closed his eye.

Well, then.

“That’s fine, I understand that you’re having so much fun with all of your other owl friends that you wouldn’t want to leave.”

False. Most of the owls gave Daniel a wide berth, possibly because he looked more like a small lion with wings than a typical owl, but probably more so because Daniel had the most impressive unimpressed look of any owl or person Calum had ever seen.

Daniel opened both eyes at that and seemed to glare at Calum.

“It’s not a problem at all! I’ll just ask this beautiful owl over here –“ Calum was cut off by a flurry of wings and a sharp piercing on his right shoulder. “Ow ow ow! Fine! I won’t ask him!”

Daniel hooted smugly and stuck out his leg for the letter. _Jerk._

“It’s for my friend Luke, you know the one in Ravenclaw?” Daniel hooted in what Calum could only describe as agreement before taking off out of the owlery.

_RING! RING! RING!_

_Crap! That’s the warning bell! I only have 5 minutes to get to my dorm._ Calum hurriedly grabbed his bag and ran down the stairs. As he rounded the corner he collided with another person with such force that they both tumbled to the ground.

“Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!” Calum stammered out. “I didn’t see you, and I was running because of the warning bell, which crap, now I’m definitely going to be late, and –“

“Whoa, slow down kid.” The boy that Calum knocked to the ground drawled. “It’s not a problem.” He clambered to his feet. “I’m rather impressed, to be honest. You managed to knock me to the ground, and scatter my plants, and I’m probably fifteen pounds heavier than you.” 

“Sorry,” Calum repeated, face flushing. “I’m Calum, I’m a –“

“Gryffindor.”

“—Gryffindor, and, wait what?”

“I remember you. Although I haven’t seen you in awhile.”

“Uh, not to sound rude, but do I know you?”

The boy chuckled. “I don’t think we’ve ever been introduced, actually. I’m Michael Clifford, and I met you last year when you were hiding behind a statue freaking out about being late to class.” He was wearing clothes that were definitely not part of the uniform, and his hair seemed to be blue and black, no wonder Calum hadn't immediately recongize him.

Calum’s heart skipped a beat. Truth be told, he had kept an eye out over the past year for the Hufflepuff that had helped him on his first day, but he had never managed to find him. To think that the time he manages to speak to him again was only after he knocked the boy to the ground is somewhat humiliating.

“Right, I remember that. Uh, yeah. I’m Calum. Calum Hood, and did I ever say thanks for that by the way? And thanks for inadvertently introducing me to my best friend?”

“Oh, I don’t remember doing that,” Michael frowned. “Who’s your friend?” He seemed to have no worries about the time, his scattered books, or his flowers that were scattered on the floor.

“Luke Hemmings, he’s a –“

“Lukey?” Michael interrupted, smile growing, “Oh man, I didn’t know you two were best friends.” He seemed to freeze, and when he spoke his voice sounded much less friendly and much more fierce, “Wait, how do I know that you’re good enough to be friends with Luke?”

“Uh, well, I mean, I don’t know?” Calum stuttered, completely blindsided.

“Are you asking me or answering me?”

And when had this suddenly turned into an interrogation?? Michael was looking a whole lot less like a normal student and a whole lot more like a mama grizzly bear gearing up to protect her young.

“He’s my best friend! We sit next to each other in every class, and I help him with potions because he’s absolutely hopeless at them, and he visited me over the summer! And we’re learning to play guitar together!” Calum couldn’t remember the last time he had spoken this quickly, and he hoped that he was saying the right thing.

 _Dammit Luke_ , Calum thought, _We’re going to have a long conversation about your scary older friends tomorrow. Assuming I survive to see tomorrow that is._

But Michael seemed to have relaxed and adopted his friendly persona again. “Well that’s good then. He’s a sweet kid, and deserves good friends who don’t take advantage of him.”

Calum very pointedly did not think about how often he borrowed Luke’s notes.

_RING! RING! RING!_

“Damn!” Calum sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Michael smirked, “Are you afraid of getting caught out past curfew? Filch only checks this area on Tuesdays. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Nah, I really do. I accidentally stepped on Mrs. Norris earlier, and I just know that she’ll drag Filch to me.”

“Ah, I wouldn’t worry about her,” Michael said. “Come on, I’ll walk you back to your common room. Help me pick up my stuff.”

Calum, already resigning himself to getting caught and getting a week’s worth of detentions, bent down to pick up Michael’s stuff. As he went to retrieve the plants that he had knocked down, Michael's hand grabbed his wrist stopping him.

“You really don’t want to touch those,” he said. “When the flower comes into direct contact with human skin, it’ll cause a really, really itchy rash that takes two weeks to wear off, and there’s no cream that’ll fix it. Plus once you start scratching at the rash, it’ll just spread all over your body; it’s not very comfortable, kind of like a magic version of poison ivy. I’ll get them.” And sure enough, Michael was wearing gloves.

“Why do you have them then? If they're so dangerous?” Calum asked.

Michael smirked. “Don’t worry about it.”

Calum gulped.

As the two turned to make their way towards the Gryffindor tower, Michael took the lead. But he didn’t head up the way that Calum expected. Instead, he ducked into a corridor on the 3rd floor behind a tapestry and continued on through two false walls, clearly knowing where he was going.

As they turned the corner, Calum asked, “Are you even supposed to know where my common room is?”

Michael laughed, “One of my best friends is a fourth year Gryffindor, Ashton Irwin?” He glanced at Calum. “I’ve known where your common room is since my first year, don’t worry, you’re not breaking any rules.”

They were cut off by a hiss. Mrs. Norris had come back, and she stared beadily at Calum.

“Here kitty kitty,” Michael gently called, getting to his knees. “Hi Donna! How are you? You look so beautiful. Prettier than any cat I’ve ever seen!” He continued murmuring to Mrs. Norris as Calum stared thunderstruck at him.

“Mrs. Norris’ first name is Donna?!?!” was the only thing that Calum managed to choke out.

She hissed at Calum, even as she purred and wrapped herself around Michael’s leg.

“Wow, she really doesn’t like you,” Michael observed. He smiled, “Uh, actually, I don’t know if that’s her first name.” He smiled sheepishly, “I’ve just been calling her that since my first year when I fed her some tuna and realized that the name Filch gave her is really fucking stupid. Like honestly, who names such a beautiful girl after an old lady?” He cooed at her.

Calum was dumbstruck. Mrs. Norris – Donna!? – absolutely HATED every student here at Hogwarts. It was practically a universal law! But there she was, practically draping herself over Michael, all the while hissing at Calum, warning him away, as if he’d even dare to get close to her, as if he'd even WANT to.

“Uh, Michael, how are we going to get away without detention? She’s found us, and where she goes, Filch follows.”

Michael glanced up at him and then smiled back down at Donna. “Hey girl, can I ask a favor of you? Can you lead Filch down to the dungeons tonight?” She wrapped herself around his leg, and then hissed at Calum. “Yeah, yeah, I know you don’t like him, but if we get caught, then I won’t be able to get any more tuna for you.”

Calum actually held his breath as she paused as if to think about the request. Finally, she rubbed up against Michael, shot Calum one last glare, and then darted away.

“We’re fine, we won’t get caught. Anyways, we’re almost at your common room,” Michael continued, as if they hadn’t been interrupted by a devil cat. And sure enough, the Gryffindor common room was at the end of this hallway.

“Thanks,” Calum said as they reached it. “And sorry again about knocking you down earlier.”

Michael waved a hand in the air, “Don’t worry about it. No harm no foul. I’ll see you around Calum.” He turned to go, “And don’t be a fuck to Luke! I’ll be keeping an eye out!” He smiled and then walked away.

 

* * *

 

When Calum got down to the Great Hall the next morning he kept his eyes peeled for Michael. Not immediately finding him, he turned to look at the Ravenclaw table, and spotted Luke sitting with a stack of paper next to him.

He slid in front of him. “Morning!”

“Murrmphahgh,” Luke mumbled. He waved his hand to the stack of paper next to him.

“These your herbology notes?”

Luke nodded.

“Perfect! Thanks man! I’ll get these back to you by Saturday. Anyway, I have a question for you.”

Luke blearily raised his eyes from his breakfast to look at him, “What?”

“Why did Michael Clifford threaten me last night?”

Well that seemed to wake Luke right up.

“What?” he sputtered, “What are you talking about?”

“He asked me why I was good enough to be your friend, and then told me he’d be watching out. Luke, what the hell?”

Luke laughed, his smile dimpling his cheeks. “He’s a friend of mine! You know that! He has been since the first day of school last year! I don’t see him super often because he’s like the most anti-social person ever, but I guess he’s been looking out for me, like, behind the scenes.” Luke ducked his head down, “He’s kind of like a brother. But not like Jack or Ben, because they’re so much older, and Michael still teases me, but it’s more like it’s only OK if he does it? Because I know that he cares about me? You know?”

Calum’s heart melted at the expression on Luke’s face. Sometimes it was so easy to see why some of the older students, Slytherins in particular, found Luke so easy to bully. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and was so genuine in everything that he did, that he often forgot that not everyone was as nice as he was. Just last week, a couple 5th year Slytherins had tricked Luke into falling into the lake.

“Yeah man, I get it. I was just a bit surprised at how terrifying he was,” Calum answered.

“Michael’s not scary!” Luke protested.

Calum merely raised an eyebrow.

At that moment, shouts broke out at the Slytherin table. Some of the 5th year boys, in fact the very ones that had tricked Luke last week, had jumped up and were frantically scratching their bodies. As the whole hall turned to watch the unfolding drama, Calum glanced over to the Hufflepuff table to find a smirking Michael staring at the group.

“CLIFFORD!” shouted one of them. “What the hell did you do to us?!”

Michael merely raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed and definitely not intimidated. _That’s odd,_ Calum frowned, _that look is strangely reminiscent of --, OK, you’ve GOT to be kidding me._

Daniel was perched on Michael’s shoulder, shooting the very same unimpressed look as Michael at the Slytherins. _Well, now I know where he learned it,_ Calum laughed. Michael glanced over and made eye contact with Calum. His smirk seemed to grow as he raised a hand and wiggled a non-gloved hand at Calum.

Calum turned back to his breakfast. _Hmm,_ he mused, _seems like Slytherins aren’t the only mischievous ones._ The shouts behind him grew, and he laughed as he dug into his breakfast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? I'd love to hear feedback!  
> xox


	3. Year 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe girls aren't the only ones allowed to like boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS: Some offensive language and homophobia, a teensy tiny bit of violence, and a smidgeon of internalized homophobia. It shouldn't be too bad, but I just thought I should warn to make sure. I know that this is a sensitive topic, but I tried to handle it as delicately as I could.

Calum knew it wouldn’t be easy. He knew that there was still such a stigma attached to it, and that he might lose friends, even if he was lucky enough to be wholly supported by his family, but Calum felt like he had to do this. He had to say it.

To Luke at least. Luke is still his only real friend. Though he and Michael have become the sort of people who head nod at each other in the hallway and make small talk when around each other, they haven’t really spent anytime alone together since Michael walked him back to the Gryffindor common room last year.

Calum has his suspicions that Michael had had a private word with Mrs. Norris – Donna – and asked her to keep an eye out for him, because he’s definitely broken curfew, been spotted by that damn devil cat, and not been caught. If Calum’s being honest, he likes feeling like he made enough of an impression on Michael that he went out of his way to make sure that Calum wasn’t getting into trouble. It makes Calum feel special.

But Michael and Calum weren’t close enough for Calum to feel like he had to tell him. He only felt like he should tell Luke, because Luke had been there for him in so many ways, that being honest was the only option left.

So that was why he was here, sitting with Luke in the safest place that he could think of, under the Whomping Willow – and how Luke had managed to get the tree to calm down enough to let them chill under it, when he still couldn’t even prune a non-magical rose bush was beyond Calum – taking deep breaths trying to force the words out.

Luke was waiting patiently, his hand on Calum’s knee, grounding him, with a small encouraging smile on his face.

“I’m gay.”

The moment the words left his mouth Calum felt like he was caught between the two most intense feelings in the world. The first was almost weightlessness, like he had finally come clean with himself and the only people that mattered, and the second was terror. _What if Luke thinks I’m weird? Or that I like him like that? Or that he never wants to be friends with me again, or that –_ Calum’s terrifying thoughts were cut off as Luke launched himself forward and tackled Calum in a hug, wrapping his whole body around him.

“Calum, breath! Breath, Calum, you’re totally fine. You being gay is totally fine! You’re totally fine!” Here he giggled, “Get it? Like _fine_ , oh wait, crap, come on, Calum – no, keep breathing.” His arms stayed wrapped around Calum’s entire body as he continued to try and calm Calum down.

When Calum’s breathing had finally slowed, Luke pulled back just enough to peer into Calum’s face. “Calum, you’re my best friend. I don’t care if you’re gay, straight, asexual, bisexual, or even into Centaurs! I just want you to be happy; that’s all that matters to me.”

Calum could feel the terror ebbing, and the weightlessness building as he and Luke stayed wrapped around each other under the Whomping Willow. He buried his face in Luke’s shoulder and let all of his emotions go, crying onto his shirt, relieved that he had picked the best person ever to be his best friend.

* * *

 

Calum really could not have picked a better friend to come out to. Luke only asked him if he was interested in anybody, and when Calum blushingly denied, Luke laughed at him just like he did when Calum talked about his favorite Quidditch player Ginny Weasley. Luke didn’t treat him any differently, still cuddling up to him when they lay on the grass outside to study. Luke never pressured Calum into coming out, never even asked when he was going to; Luke just let Calum live his own life while supporting him 100%.

The only thing that Luke did that Calum wished he wouldn’t was start wearing a rainbow headband. When Calum asked about it, Luke said that it was a way of showing support for the LGBTQ group. Calum very silently freaked out that Luke knew more about this than he did, and only calmed down when Luke said that Calum wasn’t his only friend that was gay, and that he had learned different ways to show support last year.

Calum’s problem wasn’t Luke’s headband, or even Luke wearing the headband. It was just that there were a couple older Ravenclaws that had noticed and started sniggering every time that they saw Luke wearing it. Calum knew that the tension was building, and that something bad was about to happen, and the only thing that Calum could think to do to protect Luke was ask him to stop wearing the headband, for his own safety.

But Luke would always smile and shake his head.

“I don’t care what they think about me. They don’t matter to me, but you and my other friends matter, and if this is the only way that I can support you, even if only you guys know, then this is what I’m going to do. They can piss off.”

And what could Calum say to that really? Luke was supporting his friends the only way he knew, even if it put himself right in the path of bullies. It just made Calum nervous because he knew that when Luke eventually got in trouble, Calum would step in to defend him, and then people might figure out the truth.

Calum wasn’t ready for Hogwarts to know that he was gay, he could barely tell his best friend! But if Luke would stand by him, then Calum would do his best to return the favor. 

On Saturday, Calum and Luke were walking to the library when they came across the group of older Ravenclaws that had been giving Luke trouble since his first year. And Calum felt sick when he saw the way that their eyes lit up when they saw Luke and his rainbow headband.

“Look here boys!” the eldest snickered. “I found the fag! And you must be his boyfriend,” his eyes traveled to Calum.

Calum could literally feel his heart beating out his chest. He felt sick, and he automatically grabbed Luke’s hand to try and steer him away from these guys. But sometime in the last 3 years Luke had started to grow a backbone, and he stood firm, glaring at the older boys.

“Fuck off.” His hand squeezed Calums, “and leave us alone. Come on Calum.” He went to walk past the older students, but they had fanned out and started crowding them back against the wall.

“Aw, come on now. Don’t be like that,” they taunted. “We just want to talk to yo—“

“What the fuck is going on here?” a voice thundered. Calum lifted his head and stared in shock at Michael Clifford, who had walked boldly in between the two groups and was glaring down the group of older boys. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Luke, are these guys bothering you?”

Michael looked like an avenging god, and like he didn’t even need an answer from Luke to tear these guys apart.

“They called me a fag,” replied Luke. Calum hadn’t even noticed how tense Luke was until Michael was standing in front of them and Luke relaxed. “As if that’s a bad thing. As if being gay is worse than being a fucking jerk.” Here Luke seemed to run out of confidence and shrank back into the wall.

Michael didn’t move. His back was tense, still acting as a human barrier between the two groups, staring at the older students. “Well?” he asked.

“Look man,” the older boys started nervously, “he’s just a fag! He doesn’t mean anything, and he’s already a disgrace to magic –“

“He’s not the one that’s gay!” cried Calum. “I am! So leave him alone!”

All of the air in the room seemed to disappear, Luke suddenly clenching his hand, and all heads turned to face him. Even Michael had whipped his head around, staring in surprise at Calum, before turning back to glare at the other boys.

“Oh ho ho! Well would you look at that! I guess it’s true then, it really is a fucking disease—“ the leader was cut off by Michael suddenly moving and slamming his fist into his face.

The sound of breaking bones seemed to resonate through the room and act as a catalyst. All at once, the older boys jumped at Michael, spells flying through the air as they tried to pin down the 4th year.

But Michael was too fast for them. The first thing he did was whip around and throw a shield at Calum and Luke and then he was off, throwing jinx after hex at the older boys, always moving out of the way of their spells. Within a minute, all of the older boys were on the ground, with various afflictions covering their bodies, and Michael was standing over them.

“You will leave them the fuck alone,” he growled. “Don’t fucking come near them again, and don’t ever talk to them or I swear to god I’ll show you just what an infectious disease is.” He turned around and his face softened as he looked at Calum and Luke curled up on the ground, his shield spell still flickering in the air.

He waved his wand and the spell disappeared, “Come on. I’ll walk you to the library.”

As they silently followed Michael through the halls, Luke leaned over to whisper in Calum’s ear, “OK, maybe he can be a bit terrifying.” 

* * *

 

When Calum woke up the next day, he stared at the ceiling numbly. He had come out yesterday. He had come out to the meanest people in school, and Michael Clifford had come in and saved him.

He considered turning over and sleeping through school, but Calum wasn’t a coward, and he wouldn’t let the bullies win. He got up, got dressed, took a deep breath and walked down to breakfast.

As soon as he walked through the door, he felt 100 pairs of eyes on him. As he glanced around, he noticed that though a few people seemed to be snickering at him,  most of the eyes just held recognition and, in some cases, people were smiling at him.

_Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no._

“Calum!” He turned around and there was Luke rushing towards him. “Calum, I’m so sorry , the guys from yesterday, Calum, they told people.”

Calum closed his eyes and counted his breaths. _I can do this. I can do this._ “It’s fine Luke. It was bound to happen anyway.”

“Do you want to eat in the kitchens? Niall Horan, one of the older Hufflepuffs, yeah? He told me where they were last week. We can go there?”

But Calum shook his head. “Let’s just sit down Luke, I really don’t even want to think about it.”

Calum and Luke headed over to the Gryffindor table, and, as they started piling food on their plates, Calum felt another body sit down next to him. He looked up to see Ashton Irwin, Gryffindor 5th year, Prefect, and all around nice guy, sitting next to him.

“Hullo lads! Mikey told me that some guys were troubling you two yesterday?” The innocent way that he phrased the question was a clear indicator that Ashton didn’t know the full story of what had happened.

Michael hadn’t told anyone.

Calum felt his face curl into a smile, “Yeah, but Michael came by and stopped it before it got too out of hand.”

Luke looked disbelievingly at Calum and Calum could almost hear his thoughts: _STOPPED IT BEFORE IT GOT TOO OUT OF HAND?! He was the one that PUNCHED the other guy!_

But Ashton nodded, as if Michael getting involved in things like that were a normal occurrence. “He’s like that. Anyway, how are you guys this morning?”

Before they could answer, one of the boys from yesterday – Calum was pleased to see that his nose was still badly bruised, even if the bone had been healed – walked by their table.

“Watch out Irwin, you don’t know who you’re sitting with.”

Ashton raised an eyebrow, but was stopped from responding when there was a huge commotion by the doors. All the students turned to the doors, and whispers broke out across the hall.

_Oh my god._

There was Michael, with florescently bright pink hair, looking so out of dress code that the teachers were in too much shock to even scold him. He wore ripped black skinny jeans – and how he even had circulation in his legs was a mystery to Calum – a black muscle tank with a bright rainbow on it, and Doc Martins.

Michael walked right up the hall to the teacher’s table, and leaned in to whisper to Headmistress McGonagall. Her head reared back in shock, but Calum could see that she was clearly fighting a smile. Finally, she nodded and moved her chair back.

Michael, in full view of the entire school, climbed up onto the teacher’s table and pointed his wand at his throat to amplify his voice.

“Good Morning!” he called, and the whole hall quieted. “You wouldn’t believe what a day I had yesterday!” He spoke as if he had no care in the world, and wasn’t breaking just about 234 school rules just by speaking. “You see, I saw something yesterday, that I really think is a problem that the whole school needs to fix. Yesterday, I saw the worst example of bullying that I have ever seen. Apparently, some people,” here he looked directly at the group of Ravenclaws, “think that they have the right to determine what makes a person worthwhile. And those very people have decided, oh so graciously I might add, that being gay makes a person unworthy of magic.”

While there hadn’t been any talking when Michael first stood up, the hall was now so silent that you could hear a pin drop. From the corner of his eye, Calum saw Mrs. Norris dart out from under the table to pounce on a small mouse stupid enough to squeak.

“And that,” Michael continued, walking up and down the staff table like a general about to command his troops, ignoring the looks the teachers were throwing his way, “is why I’m standing in front of you today. Every person in the world, whether he or she is gay, straight, male, female, wizard, muggle or anything in between, is worthwhile. But if you want to be one of those people who think differently, fine. Be my guest.” Here he paused, building the tension in the air until it was so thick Calum could almost taste it. “But you might want to stay away from me. You never know what kind of _infectious disease_ ,” he almost spit the words, “you could catch from a faggot like me.” He finished with a smile that seemed to have more teeth than usual.

Calum felt his mouth drop as whispers suddenly broke out across the hall. _Did he just really…_ He looked over to Luke to see him and Ashton smiling up at Michael with pride in their eyes. _Oh my god, he did._

“One more thing!” Michael called, “I’ve noticed people keep bothering some of my friends.” His glances to Luke and Calum were obvious, “But listen up! They’re mine, so stop fucking bothering them unless you want to have to deal with me, too.” There was something in the way he said it, that made Michael seem much more dangerous at that moment, than anything they had studied in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Michael jumped down from the staff table, as all of the teachers sat back flabbergasted in their chairs. He looked around and grinned cheekily, “Thanks! And sorry about the language,” he added, and then walked over to the Gryffindor table, sat down next to Luke, and started eating his breakfast.

A slow clap started over at the Hufflepuff table that quickly spread across the hall; even the teachers were joining in. When the cheering got so loud that it sounded like they were at the start of term feast Michael finally looked up and blushed.

“Alright, alright. Jesus. Can’t a guy eat in peace?” he grumbled, waving people off.

Calum and Luke just stared at him in shock as the cheers started to die down while Ashton laughed and said, “That’s definitely not how you told me you were gay, Mikey. I think I liked this one a bit more.”

Michael humphed. “It’s stupid. Like why should it matter if I like dick or not? Or if others? And after yesterday,” nodding to Luke and Calum, “I just felt like something needed to be said. Boys can like boys, and girls can like girls, and it doesn’t fucking matter.”

He ducked his head down and started eating Luke’s breakfast again. Luke didn’t seem to care, clinging as he was to Michael, who merely wrapped one arm around him and continued eating.

“I’m proud of you Mikey,” he said.

Michael looked down fondly, “Shut up, Luke.” But he mussed his hair as he pushed him off. “Eat up,” he said, “You’ve got class in 15 minutes.”

* * *

 

Later, when Calum steals one of Luke’s rainbow headbands, he sits on his bed and stares at it. _It’s OK for boys to like girls, and it’s OK for boys to like boys and girls to like girls. It’s OK._

He transfigured the headband into a snapback with a rainbow on the front and put it on before heading off to dinner. Headbands weren’t really his thing anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts/Comments/Concerns?  
> xox


	4. Year 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe Hufflepuffs aren't the only ones that can be called loyal friends

It had been all over the news for weeks; the headlines ranging from “New Dark Lord” to “The Ministry’s Plan of Action.” Apparently, now that Hermione Granger was basically running the Ministry of Magic, they weren’t letting any whisper of new dark lords go, and were constantly updating the public on what measures were being taken to combat the terrorism.

Since early November, there had been reports of muggle houses burning, wizards being cursed, and in the worst cases tortured by a group of wizards that wanted to resurrect Tom Riddle. Now, the ministry had done a much better job this time rounding up the lot, but a few of the dark wizards seemed to have slipped through their grasp. Just last Tuesday, there were reports that those wizards were going to try to get to Hogwarts. It was all considered rubbish, of course, until Hogsmeade was attacked.

Now there were strict safety protocols in place in case of emergency. Students had a much earlier curfew, and all Quidditch matches were moved to much earlier times. More professors were now patrolling the corridors, and the tension was at an all time high.

This was why, when Michael suddenly looked up from his dinner, focusing on the Slytherin table, and said, “Shit,” Calum was concerned.

“Michael?” he ventured, “What’s up? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

But Michael ignored him. He turned his frantic eyes to the 1st year Gryffindor table, and pursed his lips. “You have got to be fucking kidding me,” he mumbled. “Guys, I have to go. I’ll be back before curfew,” he said, getting up from the table.

Luke, Ashton, and Calum glanced at each other worriedly.

“Mikey, what’s wrong?” asked Luke, grabbing onto his shirt before he could get away.

“Hopefully nothing,” he responded, rubbing Luke’s hair fondly, before tugging it away. “I just need to check on something. Seriously,” he added, “don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” And with that he grabbed his jacket and ducked from the hall.

Since early last year, when Michael had come out in front of the entire school, the relationship between the four boys had changed. Calum now considered Michael, Luke and Ashton his three best friends, and finally felt like he had found his place at school. It was an interesting place though.

Because Michael had come out in such a spectacular way, the rest of the students were already idolizing him, and teachers no longer found a need to discipline him on his wardrobe choices. And since Michael had pretty much claimed Calum and Luke as ‘his’, the rest of the school had started to treat them differently.

For one, no one bothered the two of them. At all. Some of the older years that had always enjoyed snickering at the two of them suddenly found themselves with better things to be doing. Apparently being considered as Michael’s meant that you were untouchable.

Calum could see his popularity skyrocketing; people kept coming up to him asking if he wanted to partner together in something, or if he wanted to go to the Three Broomsticks next weekend. If he was being honest with himself, he didn’t mind it. It was nice to feel appreciated.

What Calum didn’t like, was that people kept asking him about Michael. Now, Calum thought Michael was awesome, and he definitely thought that Michael was under appreciated, it was just that every time Calum thought about Michael, or saw him, Calum would get this funny feeling in his stomach, like someone had squeezed all of the air out of the room. And anytime Calum tried to think about what that meant, he would end up shying away before he could admit anything to himself.

But even with all of these changes in Calum’s own life, Michael seemed to stay constant. He would always turn up outside of Calum and Luke’s classroom after classes were done for the day, would make Ashton wake Calum up at 2:30AM on a Tuesday and sneak out to the astronomy tower so the four of them could watch a comet, and would always eat with them.

He seemed to be everywhere at once, and yet somehow, Calum still felt like he didn’t see enough of him. He found himself strangely jealous of the first years as Michael showed them different shortcuts to get to class, or of the way Michael would smile at other students.

Calum didn’t like to think too much on why he didn’t like a 6th year Hufflepuff named Harry Styles after he saw Harry and Michael walking with their arms slung around the other's shoulders a couple weeks ago. It wasn’t until he saw Harry serenading the Ravenclaw Head Girl Taylor Swift that Calum finally started smiling at Harry, instead of sending him glares. (He had never stopped smiling at Michael. Just Harry. _Those damn curls._ )

But Michael was not known for leaving mid-way through a meal. Just like Michael and his owl loved to sleep, he also loved to eat. Michael getting up before he even finished his first serving was a big red flag. Yet, Michael had already left the Great Hall.

“What do you think happened?” he asked Ashton.

Ashton’s eyes were narrowed looking at the first years. “I’m not sure,” he said slowly, “but if I have even an inkling of what’s going on, then it’s nothing good.”

“What do you mean?”

Ashton looked at Calum and Luke. “One of the Slytherin first years is missing. It’s Sansa.”

_Oh shit._

Sansa was a tiny first year Slytherin that had come up to Michael on the third day of term and told him that while pink hair was awesome, dying his hair the muggle way would ruin it forever. She had then gone on to, oh so primly, explain that dipping his hair in a color-changing potion would work much better and last much longer.

Michael had pretty much fallen in love with her then and there, and the two of them had a blast changing Michael’s hair each week. They had just celebrated figuring out a way to get an accurate representation of the star charts in his hair yesterday, and Michael had started teaching Sansa guitar in his free time in thanks.

 _If Sansa is missing, then Michael will stop at nothing to find her,_ Calum thought to himself, dread filling his stomach. Michael was known for being protective of those that he considered his own, and to know that the youngest one of said group might be in trouble would immediately raise alarms in his head.

“What should we do?” asked Luke, “Should we let the teachers know?”

Ashton paused, and then shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I’m sure that it’s nothing serious,” he paused, “but if we don’t hear from him before curfew then absolutely. Michael is a strong guy with a mean right hook, I’m sure he can take care of himself in the castle.”

 

* * *

 

 

The three of them retired after dinner to the abandoned classroom in the charms corridor they had effectively claimed. While Luke immediately sat down and started working on his homework, Calum and Ashton started a game of miniature Quidditch. It was unfortunate that Michael wasn’t there; he got really into miniature Quidditch, even though he couldn’t stand the real thing.

But the bells signaling a quarter til curfew came and went and Michael was still nowhere to be seen. Calum and Luke traded uneasy glances. This was really not a time for Michael to be getting himself needlessly in trouble.

“Let’s find the professors,” decided Calum.

They trudged off to the staff room.

“What are you boys doing out?” scolded Professor McGonagall, “It’s almost curfew!”

“Sorry professors!” started Ashton, “It’s just that we think something might have happened. Michael’s been missing since mid-way through the feast. And we think Sansa might be too, because she wasn’t there at all.”

The news brought the staffroom to an absolute quiet. Though many of them were loathe to admit it, Michael had become somewhat of a favorite student for many of them. It was something about the way that he would always stand up for the younger years, and always had his homework done even if he was out of dress code that made them overlook his surliness and general disregard for other school rules. Calum knows that Professor Slughorn has been trying to get Michael to come to one of his dinner parties for _years_ now, but Michael would just flat out ignore the invitation.

“It seems stupid,” he had said, “Like why would I want to go spend time with them when I could be spending time here with you?”

The memory still made him blush.

“And he said that he would be back before curfew,” continued Luke, “but obviously he’s not. And I’m scared.” Luke had the unnatural ability to make everyone want to coddle him, and the combination of Luke’s charm and the teacher’s fondness of Michal ensured that the staffroom was suddenly a beehive of activity.

“Neville, alert the portraits and ghosts that there are two students presumed missing and check with Horace to confirm the absence of Sansa. Filius, can you activate the wards? And let Madame Pomfrey know that she might have two students under her care tonight, just in case?” asked McGonagall.

As they hurried off to do their bidding, Pomona Sprout’s voice could be heard over the rest, “You know,” she started, “I actually might know what’s going on.”

As one, all of the heads in the room swung around to stare at her.

“Earlier today in class I stopped some of the Gryffindor boys from teasing Sansa about her family. They were calling her a bunch of names, and I distinctly remember one boy saying that she could solve her family’s money issues with just one pint of acromantula venom.”

Horror filled Calum. _And I bet Michael figured out that she would try and go for it during a time when everyone was too busy eating so no one would miss her, and that’s why he took off. God damn hero complex.  
_

Her words seemed to light a fire under everyone in the room. Teachers were suddenly flying out the door heading towards the Entrance Hall, and Calum, Ashton and Luke sneakily followed them.

 _After all,_ Calum reasoned with the voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like his mother, _where else is safer to be than with all the teachers?_

As the group made their way through the entrance and down towards the forest, a lone figure broke from the darkness and started coming towards the group. Calum felt his breath catch in his throat as he saw a beautiful centaur with a hoof shaped chest scar approach them.

“Greetings,” he intoned. “There is a young one in the forest tonight. When I approached him he snarled at me and asked me where the spiders were. What’s going on? I have not gleamed the answers from the sky tonight, though I thought I could see the galaxy in his hair.”

“Hello Firenze,” replied McGonagall, “That’s one of our missing students, Michael. Have you seen another perhaps?”

Firenze’s answer was interrupted by Professor Longbottom.

“Minerva!” he panted, skidding to a stop next to her. “There’s been another insurgent sighting in Hogsmeade, though they’ve left now. Rosy thinks they’re on their way up to Hogwarts through the forest.”

All the blood left Calum’s face at the news, and he blindly reached out for Luke and Ashton’s hands, gripping them tightly. At that moment though, Professor McGonagall spotted the three of them.

“What are you doing out here?” she screeched. “Get back up to the castle! Go to the hospital wing and get a calming drought, and then for god’s sake stay there!”

Calum opened his mouth to protest, and then thought better of it. _The more we stand here stalling them, the longer it’ll be before Michael and Sansa get help. Besides, what help would we be right now?_

“Come on,” he said, tugging the other’s hands. “We can wait for them in the hospital wing.”

Luke looked up at Calum, “Do you think they’ll be OK?”

Ashton answered, eyes straight staring at the forest, “I think anyone, or anything, that gets in between Michael and Sansa is a dead man walking.”

As the three of them turned to head back to the castle, a bright red light went by two inches from Calum’s nose, hitting Luke and sending him flying through the air.

“What the--,” he looked around, “ _Shit!_ It’s the insurgents! DUCK!”

As the teacher’s whirled around to face this new threat, Calum grabbed Ashton’s hand and tugged him over to Luke. Frantically reaching him, Calum immediately checked his pulse, relieved when he could still feel it beating.

“Ashton, come on, we have to get Luke out of here!” But the two of them couldn’t risk standing up, not when there were so many unknown curses and spells flying through the air. Crawling forward, the managed to partially drag Luke behind Hagrid’s hut.

 _If only he weren’t away visiting his girlfriend in France,_ thought Calum miserably. _You never lose when a half-giant is on your side._

Calum glanced around the hut when spells stopped flashing through the air. From where he was, he could just barely make out one of the insurgents holding Professor Grubby-Plank with a wand to her temple, backs to the forest. Professors Longbottom and McGonagall were standing in between the castle and the only insurgent left standing.

“Don’t move!” a thin, reedy voice called. “Or I swear to god I’ll kill her. You think I won’t do it? I will! Put down your—“

He was cut off from a spell from behind. The moment his hand went lax against her temple, Grubby-Plank whipped around and nailed him in the balls. Calum winced, _Good thing I never took Care of Magical Creatures, she's scary._

Calum peered even more so past the hut to see what had happened. What he saw made his heart stop.

There was Michael, blood running down his face from a cut on his temple, carrying a little girl clinging to his side, emerging from the forest. His wand hung loosely in his right hand and he was taking unstable steps forward, but his eyes were clear, and his voice, when he spoke, was just as bored as ever.

“Hello,” he said, voice only wobbling a little, “Sansa needs help, I think she was nicked by more than one spider, and it took me like twenty minutes to get her out of there,” he glanced at the insurgents dispassionately, “Can you deal with them later? I doubt they’ll be going anywhere.”

Michael and Sansa were immediately whisked off to the hospital wing, while Flitwick conjured a stretcher for Luke and floated him up to the castle, Calum and Ashton anxiously trailing behind.

As they reached the hospital wing, Calum and Ashton were immediately given calming potions and told to spend the night there, unknowingly drinking dreamless sleep in their tea. Flitwick went off to alert the ghosts and portraits that both missing students had been found and to summon the aurors to handle the insurgents, while McGonagall hovered anxiously in the hospital wing near Calum, Ashton and Luke, waiting on news about Michael and Sansa.

Calum only remembers falling into an exhausted sleep, hoping for the best.

 

* * *

 

 

Calum woke up to a small weight landing oh his knee. He blearily opened his eyes to see Daniel perched there, head fixed intently towards the curtained off section in the hospital wing, and Donna sitting at the foot of his bed, hissing when she looked up at him. _Devil cat._

He glanced around at the other beds, and saw Ashton sitting on the end of Luke’s bed, the two of them talking quietly.

“Wazsgoinon?” he mumbled.

Ashton and Luke immediately scrambled over to sit on Calum’s bed, Daniel glaring at them anytime they made Calum’s knee move.

“How are you feeling?” asked Luke, “I’m fine, and so is Ashton, but we don’t know what happened to Michael and Sansa.”

“Just tired,” replied Calum, “well, and worried.”

At that moment Madame Pomfrey bustled over to check up on him. “How are you feeling, dear? A bit light headed?”

As she poked and prodded, Ashton and Luke bombarded her with questions about Michael.

“Is he OK?”

“Is SHE OK?

“What happened?”

“Can we see them?”

“Hush, now!” she replied, “You can’t see them today, and you probably won’t talk to them until the weekend when I wake them up! But,” she added, seeing their distraught faces, “I can tell you that both of them should make a full recovery, OK? Anyway, you seem to be fine Calum, so I want all three of you to go down to breakfast, and then spend the rest of the day relaxing. Am I clear?”

“Yes ma’am,” they chorused meekly.

 

* * *

 

 

Throughout the day, Calum and the others found themselves under constant scrutiny from the rest of the school. Somehow – Calum suspected the portraits – word had gotten out about last nights adventure and their involvement in it, and the entire school seemed to be waiting for someone to work up the nerve to ask about it. It doesn’t surprise Calum that the first person to ask is the Gryffindor prefect Liam Payne.

“Hey guys,” he started carefully, clearly aware of every eye in the room on them, “are you OK? There are some crazy stories floating around about last night.”

Calum could’ve kissed Liam for being thoughtful enough to check on their health; he knows that plenty of the gossip-mongers of the school wouldn’t have even spared a thought to it.

“We’re fine,” Ashton replied, smiling at Liam, “Michael and Sansa are in the hospital wing, but we don’t know what happened other then Michael went to save Sansa from acromantulas. Madame Pomfrey said that they should both be fine by the end of the week.”

Liam peered at them, “Well that’s awful! But I'm not surprised that Michael went after her. Can I tell the others that?”

For some reason, Calum had absolute faith that if he told Liam to keep what he just said a secret, then Liam would take it to the grave.

“Go ahead. Look,” Ashton said, glancing at Calum and Luke, “if anyone needs us, we’re going to head back to the hospital wing after breakfast.”

“Alright,” Liam nodded decisively, “I would do the same thing if I were you. I’ll let the house elves know to send some lunch up there for you guys, too.”

“Thanks, Liam” Ashton smiled, “Come on guys, we need to eat something, and then we can head back to see Mikey.”

Calum and Luke each filled a plate and set about eating as fast as they could, rushing to get back to the hospital wing.

Madame Pomfrey took one look at the three of them, sighed, and transfigured two of the beds into couches.

“I expect you to do some homework while you wait,” she said, ruining the intimidating effect by smiling softly at them, and they settled down into the seats. Around lunchtime, Madame Pomfrey finally opened the curtains around the beds, declaring that her patients needed some sunlight, and the three boys immediately rushed to Michael’s side.

He looked bad. Real bad. His skin was paler than it had ever been, and Calum could count each and every one of his veins on his neck and up onto his cheeks. He had been injured pretty badly; he had a really rough looking cut curving down from his left temple, around his ear, and then disappeared down his shirt onto his back. Bruises were scattered all over his body, making him look like a patchwork of black and blues. He looked weak, and so unlike his charming, grumpy self that Calum choked just seeing him.

He was turned on his side, one arm stretched out towards Sansa, sleeping in the bed next to him, still acting as a barrier between her and whatever forces they had encountered last night. Sansa looked much better than Michael though. While just as pale, her veins weren’t as prominent and she only had two small cuts on her arms; Michael had clearly acted as a human shield.

The three boys dragged the couches over to be next to Michael’s bedside, and then settled in to do homework. As the day passed, Calum found himself surprised by just how many people walked by the hospital wing doors, trying to catch a glimpse of Michael or Sansa.

The next few days passed in the same routine. Calum, Ashton and Luke skipped every single class, and yet not one teacher reprimanded them. One day, a small group of first years from various houses came into the hospital wing. They approached Michael and halted about 10 feet from the bed.

Donna was curled up near Michael’s foot, shooting glares at Calum and rubbing against Michael’s ankle and Daniel was perched on Michael’s headboard, glaring down anyone who tried to make him move.

One of them walked up to Calum and handed him a homemade card, _GET WELL SOON_ written in big chunky letters across the front.

“Can you give this to him from us?” one asked, “And tell him that we miss him?”

Calum nodded, throat tight.

And with one last glance at Michael, they shuffled out of the hall. That must have been a sign, because for the rest of the week there was a steady stream of visitors to the hospital wing. Everyone who came brought a card, or a bag of candy, or most prominently, flowers - though Calum didn’t understand why  _flowers_ of all things - and every one of them asked them to tell Michael he was missed, or wish him well.

Some of the visitors surprised Calum, like a group of 7th year Slytherins that brought a packet of seedlings, and told Calum to tell Michael that, “He still has to help us study!” followed by what seemed like the entirety of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team who brought what looked like 2 kilos of muggle candy.

“I thought Michael didn’t like Quidditch,” Luke murmured to Ashton as the team retreated.

“He doesn’t,” replied Ashton bewildered, “I don’t think he’s ever even been to a match.”

But the will wishes didn’t stop there. Soon owls were flying directly into the hospital wing to drop off letters; Calum spotted an official one from what looked like the Puddlemere United Quidditch Club. A crude drawing on the back of that one gave it away as being from Louis Tomlinson, who had gone on to become the youngest chaser ever drafted onto a professional team, but, _what was Louis Tomlinson doing sending well wishes to Michael? How did they even know each other?_ thought Calum confused.

Soon the amount of well wishing cards and gifts was just absurd, and Madame Pomfrey conjured a bottomless bin for the messages to be placed in. Calum was pleased to see that every person that brought something in for Michael also included a small card for Sansa.

 _That should cheer her up_ , he thought to himself.

Finally, Saturday came around and Madame Pomfrey said that she would be waking Michael and Sansa up, and if all goes well, they would be able to leave the hospital wing on Sunday.

She woke Sansa first, checking her vitals and softly asking her some questions. She needn’t have bothered with the secrecy though, because the first thing out of Sansa’s mouth was, “WHERE’S MICHAEL?”

She looked wildly around until she saw him lying in the next bed over. Within a minute, she had launched herself out of her own bed, completely ignoring Madame Pomfrey and onto Michael, burrowing herself into his side. Donna, instead of hissing at her as she did at Calum, padded over to her and settled down above her head, and Daniel hooted his approval.

Well, then.

Madame Pomfrey, biting back a smile, went to wake Michael. At first, Calum wasn’t sure that the spell had worked because Michael didn’t move. It wasn’t until Luke snorted under his breath that Calum remembered how much Michael enjoyed sleeping, and how difficult he was to wake up.

He settled back into the cushion, looking forward to watching the most stubborn nurse attempt to wake the most stubborn patient. And boy, was it worth it. She called his name; he mumbled and didn’t wake up. She recast the spell; he ignored her. She tried asking him questions; he started snoring. She poke him in the shoulder; Donna hissed at him. She went to pull his hair; Daniel's wings flapped warningly. Finally, running out of patience, she sent a jet of water at him.

“YE-OWW! What’s WRONG with you crazy!?! Can’t you tell that I’m – oh, no,” his eyes widened, “Hi, Madame Pomfrey! You look lovely today! And is that a new – wait,” he stopped flirting and looked around, “where’s Sansa? Is she OK? Did something happen?”

He didn’t stop shooting question after question at Madame Pomfrey until he noticed the small child clinging to his arm.

“Whoops,” he said under his breath, “Hey Sansa, are you awake?”

She nodded, and slowly sat up. When she finally was sitting up straight, she took one look at Michael’s face and burst into tears.

“I’m so sorry!” she wailed, “I didn’t mean for you to get hurt, I was just trying to help!” Great heaving sobs wracked her small frame, and Michael hurriedly scooped her up in a hug.

“It’s fine, Sansa. I understand. But please don’t ever run off into the forest without telling me or one of my friends; you have no idea how worried I was,” here he paused, “And please stay away from spiders. Forever. If I never see one for the rest of my life it will be too soon.” He shuddered, "too many legs, man, it's just not right."

Madame Pomfrey pulled Sansa away to give her a more thorough check-up, and the minute they were sure that they wouldn’t be crushing an 11 year old, Calum, Luke and Ashton piled onto the bed, wrapping their arms around as much of Michael as possible.

Calum, with his face buried into Michael’s shoulder, whispered, “Please don’t ever do that again! Or at least bring us with you! You scared me so much, Mikey,” he trailed off uncertainly.

Michael wrapped his arms around them as much as he could, “I didn’t realize how far she had gotten into the forest, otherwise I wouldn’t have gone alone. I didn’t mean to worry you guys,” he nuzzled Calum’s throat, “sorry, Calpal.”

When Madame Pomfrey came back, she shooed the boys away from Michael, “I need to check on my patient, and I don’t need you three here distracting him! Go shower, sleep in your own beds, shower for goodness sake, and you can come back to get him tomorrow! Off!”

 

* * *

 

 

As Calum and Ashton turned left at the bottom of the entrance hall, they turned to wave at an exhausted looking Luke heading the other direction, “See you tomorrow!”

Ashton glanced at Calum as they ducked under the tapestry to take the shortcut back to the tower, “You OK Calum? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like that.”

“Yeah, I was just shaken seeing him like that. He looked so lifeless, like he wasn’t even there, like he wasn’t…” he trailed off, but Ashton seemed to understand, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

Calum fell asleep that night thinking about Michael. For such a small person, for indeed Ashton and Luke were now definitely taller than him with Calum fast approaching, he seemed to have an endless impact on this school. Calum didn’t know of anyone else who could inspire such compassion and loyalty from others in such a short amount of time. His last thought before he fell asleep was, _it’s nice to know that Hufflepuffs aren’t the only ones that can be called loyal friends in Hogwarts._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a little bit different (and a whole lot longer) than my other chapters, any thoughts?
> 
> xx


	5. Year 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe Ravenclaws aren't the only smart ones

Calum didn’t think that he had ever been as stressed as he currently was. 5th year was O.W.L . year, and Calum was most decidedly not ready for this. Exams were in two months, and Calum felt like he had barely finished covering his second year material. Luke, meanwhile, had already had two nervous breakdowns, even though he had managed to get through all of his notes twice now.

The two of them were sitting in the library, tucked behind the muggle studies books. Ashton and Michael had shown the two of them this spot early in the year, and told them to claim it now. And it really was the perfect study spot; there were close enough to the front of the library that they could speak quietly to each other without bothering the other students, right next to the reference books from all years, and near a window that overlooked the lake.

There was enough space at the table for all four of them to study at the same time without overlapping or crowding each other, and the best thing was that no one would dare try and start a fight with the friends of Michael Clifford over a study spot of all things, afraid that he would eventually get involved. Everyone agreed that it was best to just leave the nice study spot for Michael and his friends. Less pain that way.

Ashton had joined Luke and Calum in the mornings, given that he was preparing for his N.E.W.T.s and Calum didn’t know who looked more worried about their upcoming exams between Luke and Ashton. One thing that Calum wasn’t worried about, however, was his potions ability. Spending all of his time around two older students who at any given point might collapse from exhaustion, or have a mental breakdown had done wonders for his on-the-spot brewing.

Michael avoided the library as much as he possibly could.

“I don’t have any exams this year!” he argued, “Why would I want to spend even more of my time studying that I absolutely have to?”

He had kept up this argument until he had accidentally accepted an invitation to Slughorn’s dinner party as an excuse not to spend time in the library studying. When the three boys saw Michael the next morning, he had a haunted look on his face, and his hand kept twitching towards his wand, eyes flashing all over the room.

“So many questions,” he kept repeating, spilling coffee on the table as his hands shook. “So many questions about so many people that I don’t care about,” he slammed his cup down on the table, "Never again."

At that moment, Professor Slughorn had started walking over towards the Gryffindor table.

“Ah, Michael!” he cried, “How are you this morning? I was glad that you attended my dinner party last night, what say you to coming to one again tomorrow?” he chortled.

Michael’s wild eyes searched around for an excuse, “Uh, sorry Professor, but I can’t! You see, I have to…have to…have to…” he glanced frantically at his laughing friends, “I have to help my friends study for their upcoming exams! And you know how important those are!” he declared, getting up from the table, and dragging the other three with him.

“Anyway, we’re off to the library now! Bye!” and with that he whisked them away from breakfast and towards the library with a dark look.

“But Michael,” ventured Calum, “We didn’t finish eating breakfast.”

Michael’s breakneck pace slowed as he turned to look at them, “Alright,” he said, “First to the kitchens, then to the library!” he muttered darkly, “And we have to stay away from Slughorn.”

No matter how much Calum, Ashton and Luke questioned Michael, he never did fully tell them what had happened that unfortunate night at Slughorn’s party. When asked he would merely shudder, and mutter “So many questions” over and over.

But today, Calum really felt like they deserved a break. Luke was sitting across from him reviewing his Transfiguration notes from 4th year, Ashton next to him with his fingers in his ears as he reviewed his Ancient Runes notes again and again. Sitting next to Calum and across from Ashton was Michael, sitting so close to Calum that he could feel the heat from Michael’s thigh pressed against his own and lazily practicing his charms on the snapped quills surrounding the table.. Currently, two of the quills were dancing the tango while another was playing with Donna under the windowsill. He was now trying to charm one of the quills to draw pictures on Calum’s arm, seemingly utterly bored.

“Guys,” Calum started, “Guy’s lets take a break.” He kicked Ashton to get his attention, “We haven’t had lunch yet and it’s already 1:30, come on let’s go to the kitchens and grab some food. We can come right back up here!” he added hurriedly after seeing Luke’s scandalized expression.

Ashton and Luke looked ready to say no, but Michael spoke up, “You need to eat and rest your eyes a bit. Otherwise you’ll just fry your brain.”

With a resigned sigh, the two of them got up and the four made their way of the library. As they were walking, Calum glanced towards Michael.

“How come I don’t remember you being this freaked out about your exams last year?”

Michael smiled, “Because I knew I didn’t have anything to worry about. These two, however,” gesturing towards Ashton and Luke, “have a lot more to worry about than I did. Ashton wants to get really good grades so he can immediately start work and help provide for his younger siblings after graduation. I think he has a pretty good shot at becoming a ward-breaker with Gringotts. Luke, on the other hand, is freaking out because his mom is a teacher and he’s always been expected to get the best grades. Add onto that the fact that he’s naturally an anxious guy and you start to see why they’re freaking out.”

“And me?” Calum asked.

“You?” Michael glanced at him sideways, “You’re worried because you want to do well, but you’re more worried about your friends breaking down then you are about your own scores. Probably because you’re thinking about trying to go pro in Quidditch.”

Calum could only stare at Michael in surprise, “When did you figure all this out?” He didn’t bother trying to deny the interest in professional Quidditch; he had been practicing for hours every day for the last 3 years in order to cement his spot on the Gryffindor team. He was now the undisputed best keeper at school, and he had heard from Madame Hooch that there were some scouts interested in him. How _Michael_ knew this was more interesting to Calum than trying to deny it.

Michael just scoffed, “I pay attention to you! Uh, you guys, I mean. I pay attention to my friends!”

Calum smiled and knocked his shoulder against Michael as they walked, “I know you do,” and they walked next to each other the entire way down to the kitchens.

 

* * *

 

When the four boys reached the kitchens they were immediately besieged by House Elfs piling them with food. Staggering slightly under the weight, they hobbled over to a small table, sat down, and began to eat.

Calum kept a wary eye on Luke, who was looking more and more distressed the longer that he was away from his precious notes. Finally, Luke exploded, “CAN WE GO BACK NOW?” he directed the question to Michael, “I need to keep studying! I don’t know what I was doing with my free time over the summer, but I definitely wasn’t very productive! I should have been studying eight or nine hours a day! Oh my god, I will never be ready for these tests.” He sounded utterly defeated, and something in Calum snapped.

“I don’t even know why you’re worried at all!” he screeched, “You have the best marks in the class in almost every subject, AND your herbology scores are a full two grades ahead of the rest of us, and I’m probably going to fail that exam. How do you even get those grades?”

Ashton choked, “What’s that? His scores are how high now?”

Michael laughed, “Calum, relax man. Luke’s just freaking out because he’s Luke, but I didn’t know you were so worried about herbology. You should have told me, I could’ve tutored you sooner.”

Calum glanced at Michael in surprise, “Are you good enough to tutor?” he asked, face flushing at his own rudeness, “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” he said shamefaced.

But Michael just waved him off, “Nah, I get it. And, well, yeah,” he shrugged his shoulders, blushing, “I’m kind of really really good at it?” his voice raising at the end like it was a question.

Ashton barked out a laugh, “Kind of really really good at it?” he repeated, “Michael’s a damn prodigy at herbology, and pretty much every other subject,” he added darkly, “and basically had an Outstanding N.E.W.T. in it by his second year. He’s been running tutoring sessions officially since just last year, but in reality he’s been tutoring Luke in herbology forever.”

It was like a thousand puzzle pieces finally clicked into place for Calum. Why Luke knew so many random herbology facts, ensuring that he aced every written exam, even if he nearly failed the practical, why so many people had brought flowers when they visited Michael in the hospital wing last year, why Michael had known which flowers to use in Calum’s second year to prank the Slytherins, and why, the very first time that they had met, Michael had been so comfortable showing them where the greenhouses were.

“Oh my god,” he said slowly, turning to face Luke, “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME? I was always asking to borrow your notes!!!” he turned away, “I just can’t even believe this right now.”

Luke protested, “Hey! It’s not like I was deliberately hiding it from you! I thought you knew!”

“Why would I know that?” Calum screeched.

“Everyone else does!” shouted Luke, bringing Calum up short.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” he muttered darkly. “OK, Michael, congratulations! You’ve just become my new study buddy!”

“Hey!” protested Ashton, “You can’t just steal him from me! Plus I know that a bunch of 7th years have been trying to work up the courage to ask Michael for help, too. That’s not fair! Michael, tell him he can’t have you all to himself!” he said, turning to face a laughing Michael, while Calum started blushing at the thought of having Michael all to himself.

“It’s fine, Ash,” laughed Michael. “I promise you that I will still help you review your notes, and well, if no one has asked me yet, then they can’t get mad that I haven’t made any free time to help. And anyway, I’ve never tutored Calum, I’d say he’s entitled to some alone time with me. Some alone time studying with me!” he added hurriedly, glaring as Luke and Ashton started giggling.

“You’ll really help?” asked Calum, glancing up at Michael.

Michael’s face softened as the two made eye contact, “Yeah, Calum, I’ll help. I’ll always be here if you need it.”

Studying with Michael was a lot different than studying with Luke. For one, Michael didn’t seem capable of not talking, and for another, Michael was a very tangible learner. He fully believed that in order to understand herbology, Calum had to be touching the plant, or having it directly in front of him as they studied.

Studying with Michael also meant a lot of alone time together in the greenhouses as Michael took the time to walk through five years worth of lessons with Calum in three weeks.

As the days flew by, Calum could feel his confidence in herbology skyrocketing, and he could feel his unnamed feelings for Michael in the pit of his stomach growing. _It’s just difficult_ , he reasoned, _to be around someone like Michael who glows like the sun, and NOT start to like him a little._ Calum very pointedly did not think about how his definition of ‘a little’ might be confused with another’s definition of ‘a whole lot.’

Another thing that Calum started noticing as he studied with Michael was the way that other students reacted to him. Anytime that Michael was talking about herbology, and its different uses, the people around them seemed to quiet. Every ear was fixed on Michael, even if people gave him the courtesy of not staring.

Calum could’ve kicked himself in the face for not connecting the dots sooner when he realized that Michael had always been open about his love for herbology. For god’s sake, Michael had hand-sewn flower patches onto his (definitely not dress code!) jeans, and one of his ear piercings was a representation of the Whomping Willow.

Michael only laughed when Calum brought this up, “To be honest,” he said, “I just thought you weren’t very interested in it. Which is fine! Some people aren’t.” He looked around at the different flowers surrounding them, “I just don’t understand how someone couldn’t be interested in cultivating beauty all around them.”

 

* * *

 

Calum went to the library after dinner the next ay to look at the different school records. What he saw no longer surprised him. Michael Clifford had made history last year by being the first person to ever get ten straight Outstandings in his O.W.L.s. He furthermore had set a new high score in herbology.

Calum smiled to himself as he shut the records book, _I guess it isn’t really surprising that Ravenclaws aren’t the only smart ones. Michael seems to enjoy breaking every stereotype_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a more lighthearted chapter after a couple darker ones!   
> Reactions?  
> xx


	6. Year 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe girls can play sports and maybe Michael is in love with Calum

Calum’s 6th year at Hogwarts was going to be the best. He could feel it. It would be his last year at Hogwarts with Michael and Ashton (who had decided to stay for an extra year to apprentice to Professor Babbling) and he refused to let it be anything other than perfect. That being said, it would be a lot easier for Calum to make this year the best year if he could ever figure out where the hell Michael kept disappearing to.

Without fail, Michael would disappear four nights a week with no warning and no explanation. It had started the second week of term and now, a month later, Calum was finding his own free time diminished: Quidditch season was starting soon. As captain, Calum had to schedule try outs for the end of October, and then book the pitch at least three times a week until March when the season would end. Add onto his Quidditch commitments Calum’s workload for the semester, and it became easy to see how quickly Calum’s free time was being eaten up.

So when he found out that Michael had suddenly become busy during the few hours of free time Calum had each week, Calum was pissed. And hurt. Was Michael avoiding him? Calum didn’t think so, there hadn’t been any of the normal signs that Michael was upset or mad at him. The only thing that Calum could think of was that Michael was hooking up with someone.

“Luke,” he ventured slowly, sitting in study hall with his best friend, “do you think that Michael has a boyfriend?”

Luke snorted, “No.”

“Why not? He’s always disappearing during the only times we’d be able to see each other, which is _always_ at night, and, I mean, it wouldn’t be that surprising, would it? Michael’s hot, and a 7 th year, and I know that, like, half the school is in love with him.”

Luke glanced up at Calum, something warm in his eyes, “Michael’s definitely not seeing anyone. I'd put money on it.”

But Calum wasn’t so sure, “But _how_ do you know that? Has he told you what he’s been doing?”

Luke laughed, “Calum, if he hasn’t told _you_ what he’s doing, what makes you think he’d tell me? But I do know this,” he smirked, “Michael is as single as _you_ are.”

“Because you always know more about him!” protested Calum, ignoring the jab at his single status. _I’m the definition of cliché,_ he thought sourly, _in love with my best friend, Christ._

“Maybe before you two were actually friends, but you can’t deny that since you two started studying together last year, you’ve been spending more time with him than me or Ashton.”

“Well, yeah, but it’s like he just disappears!” argued Calum, “and he won’t tell me what it’s about, or even acknowledge it really, so I have nothing to go on!”

Calum and Luke shared a rueful grin; trying to get Michael to talk about something that he didn’t want to had become something of an inside joke to the four of them. Ever since the night Michael went to Slughorn’s dinner party, and then didn’t tell the four of them about it, they had been trying to trick the story out of him. He was as stubborn as a rock though, and so far they hadn’t made any progress,

“I don’t know man,” replied Luke, fiddling with his new lip piercing, “Have you tried following him?”

Calum shot Luke a disbelieving look, “Have _you_ ever tried to follow Michael?”

Luke grinned, “Not successfully,” he laughed, “I don’t know what to tell you Calum; if you really want to know, just be patient. You know that everything eventually becomes common knowledge, especially if it has to do with Michael, excluding Slughorn’s. You’ll find out eventually.”

_Well, that was no help_ , grumbled Calum.

It just didn’t make sense! Michael was suddenly disappearing during week nights, and if Calum were lucky enough to catch Michael coming back to his common room, Michael looked exhausted, and like he had been outside, and Calum just couldn’t figure it out.

“Ugh,” he sighed, giving up on figuring Michael out for right now, “In other news, rumor has it that Slytherin have decided to let girls try out for their team. I guess losing 410-0 to Hufflepuff was just too much of an insult,” he sniggered.

Luke laughed, “You know, I think that was the one time that I saw Michael genuinely excited about a Quidditch game. Even if he had to ask you to explain it a million times during the game.”

Calum nodded, “Remember when the quaffle dropped, and he caught it? He just looked so confused, and started waving it around in the air, like, _uhh, does someone want this?_ ” he burst into laughter.

“And then he went and threw it into the pitch, but he accidentally hit a bludg –“

“Hey now,” Michael interjected, sliding into a seat next to Calum, “It’s not nice to make fun of someone.” He turned his head primly, ignoring the snort that Luke shot at him. “Not all of us are gifted athletically, Lucas.”

Ashton slid into the seat next to Luke, “Want to see something cool? I found the ward stone for Hogwarts, and Babbling said that I can watch McGonagall recharge them the next time. It’s so cool!”

The four glanced at each other, and then at the study hall proctor. Asleep.

“Well let’s go then!”

* * *

 

_Why did I accept the captain’s position?_ _And why did I allow every year the opportunity to try out? That was not a smart decision,_ thought Calum exhausted. Try-outs had taken the majority of the day, and to say that Calum was exhausted was an understatement. But he finally had his first string team, and his reserve team – before any other house! – and he could rest easy tonight before starting to plan practices tomorrow.

As he was walking back from the broomstick closet outside just before dinner, he stumbled across something that, honestly, shouldn’t have surprised him. There was Michael, wearing _work out clothes,_ andwhat the _fuck, Michael doesn’t work out_ , carrying a beater’s bat and a broomstick and chatting to Lottie Tomlinson, Slytherin 4th year. And she was also wearing work out clothes and carrying a broomstick, and _ohmygod was Michael actually getting involved in Quidditch?_ questioned Calum.

He ducked behind a suit of armor, and watched them pass. _To follow, or not to follow, that is the question._ Michael and Lottie passed through the side entrance and from his line of sight, _To follow_ , he decided, ducking along behind them.

“Honesty, Lottie,” Michael was saying, “I don’t know why you’re worried. You’re a better beater than anyone else in this school, let alone on the current Quidditch team. And I don’t know how you even roped me into this.”

“Michael, Slytherin house hasn’t allowed girls on the team. _Ever_. It took a humiliating defeat to _Hufflepuff_ for the idea to even be considered – my brother couldn’t even get that rule overturned – and if you think that Slytherin won’t kick girls right back off the team if we _don’t_ win our next match, you’re only fooling yourself.” Lottie stated, eyes flashing.

“I’m not doubting that,” he countered, “I just don’t know why you and the rest of Slytherin girls don’t declare yourself an independent house so you can have your own Quidditch team,” he glanced at her smiling. “It’d make for a much more interesting year. Plus,” he added, “you’re going to get on the team. And then you’re going to destroy Hufflepuff, and demand equal wages and voting rights – as you should – and we will finally live in a world run by queens: Hermione Granger and Lottie Tomlinson.”

Lottie smiled, “You’re laughing, but you know it’s true.”

He smiled, “Yeah, I can’t wait honestly. But seriously, why ask me for help? Anyone can tell you I don’t know two things about Quidditch.”

“But you do know a thing or two about dirty tactics,” countered Lottie, “And try-outs tomorrow are sure to be full of them. Plus, you might not know a damn thing about the sport, but you sure can aim a bludger perfectly, and I need someone like that to practice against. Come on, hurry up. I only have two hours until I need to get to detention.”

“Why’d you get detention?”

Lottie mounted her broom, “I punched Olivia Lerman in the face when she called my brother a shitty player, and I may have jinxed Nathan Sykes last week when he called girls weak,” she tied her hair back and smirked, “he’s still in the hospital wing.”

Calum could hear Michael’s resounding laugh echo as they flew up into the air.

_Well that was interesting._

* * *

 

The first match of the Quidditch season dawned absolutely freezing. Calum was infinitely grateful that it was between Slytherin and Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor wasn’t playing.

_Should be an interesting match-up._

Hufflepuff was coming into this game on the tail end of a fantastic season last year. They hadn’t lost any players, and had absolutely no idea whether the rumors of girls on the Slytherin team were true or not. They had also been quite vocal saying that no Slytherin girl would make a difference. _Bad idea._ Slytherin, on the other hand, was coming off a terrible last season, but with righteous fury fueling them. Calum privately thought that, with girls like Lottie on the team, Slytherin would destroy Hufflepuff.

He made his way down to breakfast, meeting Luke and Ashton at the Gryffindor table. Even though Ashton was technically an assistant professor, he still acted like a student and ate at the Gryffindor house table whenever he felt like it. As he started piling food onto his plate and eating, he glanced up at the entrance hall and choked.

_Jesus Christ Michael,_ he thought, grasping for water, _Can you wait to make a statement until AFTER I’ve eaten breakfast?_

Michael Clifford was walking through the doors with neon green hair. Green hair. Supporting Slytherin…even though Michael is a Hufflepuff. A hush seemed to settle on the Hufflepuff table.

But Michael paid it no mind, merely wandering over to sit with his friends at the Gryffindor table. As he sat down, Slytherin house had started to quiet too, and all eyes once again turned to the Gryffindor table waiting for an explanation.

Luke and Ashton glanced at Calum. _Ugh, fine._

“Michael, why is your hair green?”

He looked up and smiled, “I am rather invested in the outcome of this game. As in, I hope Slytherin wins.” And he turned back to his food, snagging Luke’s orange juice as well.

Ashton was the first one to break, snickers escaping as he struggled to maintain calm, “I don’t even know what the weirdest part about this morning is. Is it Michael caring about Quidditch? Or is it Michael picking Slytherin over his own house?”

“Hey now,” he protested, “You know my feelings about the house system.”

Calum shot a confused look at Luke, who shrugged in return.

“Why Slytherin?” Luke asked.

“Because of me, obviously,” came a snort from behind them, and Calum’s mouth fell open in surprise. The Slytherin Quidditch team had entered the Great Hall, and there was now one girl on the team. She and Michael were sporting matching neon hair and smug smiles: Lottie Tomlinson. She nodded to the group, and stole Michael’s orange juice heading to the Slytherin table.

“I just wanted to show my support for gender equality,” Michael said calmly, smiling at Lottie and taking Ashton’s orange juice, “Slytherin has finally started to show open support for women in sports, and Hufflepuff is mocking them for it. I don’t want to be associated with that.”

“Well said Mr. Clifford! Well said!” exclaimed Professor Flitwick, who had come to investigate the commotion, “30 points to Hufflepuff!”

“I can’t even believe you right now,” hissed Ashton, “stealing my orange juice, honestly.” Leave it to Ashton to completely ignore everything going on around him.

Luke couldn’t contain himself any more, and peals of laughter burst free, spraying Calum with bits of egg and sausage.

He sighed, “Next time you decide to give the school a heart attack, please wait until after I finish eating,” he said to Michael.

Michael just grinned toothily and knocked their knees together.

* * *

 

Hufflepuff never really stood a chance. Slytherin was out for blood, and with Lottie on the team with her position on the line, it made for an all out bloodbath. It became uncomfortable to watch within twenty minutes.

Well, uncomfortable for everyone except Michael. He was the only person in their section cheering for Slytherin, and he became downright giddy as the game continued. His attitude wasn’t making him any friends in the Hufflepuff stands, but Michael had long ago established the fact that he would never do what was expected of him.

As the Slytherin seeker finally caught the snitch, Michael and the Slytherin fans leapt to their feet, while the rest of the school slowly filed out of the stands.

“Come on guys,” he said tugging on their hands, “I want to go congratulate Lottie.”

They walked down to the locker rooms, and waited for the team to file out. The Hufflepuff team ignored Michael, but no one made an effort to bump into him, or say anything rude. They were mad, not stupid.

The Slytherin team seemed to rush out of the locker room doors all at once, jumping, shouting, laughing and climbing all over each other. Lottie detached herself from the group and flung herself onto Michael.

“Thank you so much!” she gushed, “I could never have done it without you.”

The rest of the team quieted and looked between the two confused. They weren’t the only ones, Ashton and Luke were also wearing bewildered expression; Calum felt his smile grow, he _loved_ being the first one to know things.

Michael swung her up into the air, “You absolutely could have. I can’t wait until you and your brother start playing in the same league. God, that’ll be entertaining.”

She laughed, “He’ll be so conflicted between cheering for me and kicking my ass for beating his.”

“Uh, Tomlinson,” started one of her teammates, “What’s going on?”

Lottie spun around to face him, “Well Jared, since you guys wouldn’t let girls come to the practice sessions before the try-outs, even if you did let them try-out in the end, I needed to find someone to practice with. Luckily, I knew Michael here would help me out.”

Michael nodded, “Yeah, we’ve become close friends.” His voice was slightly mocking, and warning all at the same time, “I can’t wait to see your next match, Slytherin vs. Gryffindor. Although,” he paused and glanced at Calum, “I might have to switch my allegiance to Gryffindor.”

Lottie scoffed, “Like that would surprise anyone. They’d be more surprised if you _weren’t_ supporting Hood.”

Calum blushed but stepped forward, “You played fantastic, Lottie. I wonder what would have happened had Slytherin allowed girls on the team last year. Maybe you wouldn’t have lost so terribly,” he said with a smirk directed at her teammates.

“Alright lads, come on,” started Ashton, “We need to get back to the castle before McGonagall comes out here and yells at me for allowing you all to loiter.”

Luke sputtered, “Loiter? What, did you swallow a dictionary sometime in the last hour when I wasn’t looking?”

“Please,” Ashton waved a hand, “I just stole your word of the day calendar.” He took off running towards the castle, Luke shouting and following.

Michael raised a hand to wave to the Slytherins, “See you later. Bye Lottie! Come on, CalPal, I bet we can catch up before the reach the kitchens.” He grabbed Calum’s hand and together they followed their friends.

All anyone could talk about in the next few days was Lottie Tomlinson and the Slytherin Quidditch team. People wondered why Slytherin hadn’t had the sister of one of the best professional Quidditch players already playing on the house team, and her reputation skyrocketed. (Michael had dyed his hair a bright red in open support of Gryffindor, which seemed to appease the majority of the school. Ashton merely told him that red was his best color yet.)

* * *

 

On the Saturday following the Quidditch match, Calum, Luke, Michael and Ashton had decided to go outside and play a game of muggle football. Ashton and Calum were the only ones with any athletic ability, and so they were always pitted against each other. Luke and Michael were just along for the ride.

As they played, a large crowd started to form near the front gate.

“I wonder what’s going on up there,” Calum mused to Luke.

“I don’t know, want to go check it out?” They looked at the other two, who seemed to be having a contest on who could hold a handstand the longest.

Calum laughed, “Come on, they’ll be at that for hours.”

The closer they got to the front gate, the larger the crowd seemed to get. Pushing and shoving, the managed to make their way to the staircase on the side so that they would have a good vantage point. From up high, Calum could just barely make out two guys in the center of the crowd: Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik.

Louis and Zayn played for the same team, now that Zayn had been traded to Puddlemere as a new seeker. He was such a dangerous player because he flew like a hummingbird: ready to go at a moments notice and with no give-aways to the other team, and had already won Seeker of the Year. Louis had just recently made headlines for an interview in the Quibbler in which he came out. It was hard to go anywhere in wizarding England and not see either of their ridiculously good-looking faces staring back.

“Holy shit,” whispered Calum, “Luke! Those are the best players in our generation, why are they here at Hogwarts? Zayn didn’t even go here!” Excitement was coursing through his veins.

“Let’s go say hi!” Luke tugged Calum down the stairs and through the crowd towards the two boys. “Louis! Long time no see!” he said hugging the man.

Louis laughed and returned the embrace, “Been too long!” he answered, “How’ve you been Luke?”

“I’ve been great,” he gestured towards Calum, “Did you ever meet my best friend, Calum Hood? He’s the Gryffindor Keeper, and it’s because of him that I even know how you’re doing! What are you doing here anyway?”

Louis smiled, “Hi Calum! A keeper, did you say? I’ll remember that, there’s been some noise about Oliver Wood retiring. And I guess I have you to thank for keeping Luke at least passively interested in Quidditch?” he laughed, “I’m actually here to see my sister; she wrote me about being the first girl to be on Slytherin’s team, and I just had to come see her. I missed her first match, but hopefully I’ll see her next one.”

Zayn nudged Louis, “Going to introduce us?” he asked quietly.

“Whoops! Luke, Calum, this is my mate Zayn. Zayn, Luke and Calum. I went to school with these losers—“

“Who’re you calling loser, twat?” Michael had forced his way through the crowd and thrown his arms around a laughing Louis’ neck. “I’ve missed you moron, what are you doing back?”

Louis’ hug lifted Michael off the ground, “Mikey! I heard that you practiced with Lottie before try-outs?” he touched their foreheads together, “thanks for looking out for her man, she couldn’t stop talking about it. I see she was lying about part of it,” he said reaching up to tug Michael’s hair. “She said you had green hair, but clearly you’re not a Slytherin supporter.”

Michael rolled his eyes as he stepped back, “The red’s for Calum,” he shrugged, “And we both know that Lottie is more than capable of taking care of herself. Truth be told, practicing with her felt like target practice,” he grinned ruefully. “Hi Zayn!”

“Hi, Michael,” Zayn smiled. “And it’s nice to meet you two,” he said to Calum and Luke.

Louis wrapped his arm around Michael and Zayn’s shoulder and steered them towards the great hall, “I’m famished, do you think we could get a cup of tea? Then I suppose I need to find my devil sister.” He called over his shoulder to Luke and Calum, “Well, come on then!”

Calum was torn. Louis Tomlinson, one of the most promising Quidditch players in this generation was here! At Hogwarts! For the weekend! He would see him play Quidditch! And seemed like a really cool dude! But, Louis Tomlinson was also a very close friend of Michaels, apparently. And Louis Tomlinson was a tactile kind of guy, always touching his friends.

It made Calum uncomfortable, knowing that Michael was a catch, and so was Louis, and _oh god, they’re probably going to start dating, and then get married, and I’ll be asked to be best man because life hates me and –_ Luke’s voice broke through Calum’s mental haze.

“Calum? Calum? Calum! Hello??? Anybody home?” he smiled, waving his hands in front of Calum’s face.

“Sorry man, just got a bit distracted.” He pointedly did not look over at the Slytherin table, where Louis was sitting on top of Zayn with his legs across Michael’s lap, arguing with Lottie about the differences between American and European pizza before the game tomorrow. 

“You know Michael’s not interested in Louis,” Luke stated, flipping through his notebook as Calum whirled around to stare at him.

“What are you talking about? How do you know that?” he asked flustered, but Luke just grinned at him.

“You don’t have anything to worry about; Michael has only ever been interested in one guy his entire time here at Hogwarts, and it’s not Louis Tomlinson.”

“Is it you?” asked Calum, dreading the answer.

“What!? No!” he started laughing, “Jesus, Calum really? Absolutely not! We’re like brothers!”

“Well who is it then?”

“You, you moron,” and Calum’s world ground to a halt around them.

“What?” he stuttered, looking at Luke.

“Dude, seriously? He’s been into you for like two years, ever since he saw you saving tuna scraps from lunch one day to give to Donna because he couldn’t. All he does is talk about you, and plus, he’s like basically scared off any potential suitor that you could ever find here,” explained Luke smiling. “Calum, I am 1000% positive that Michael likes you, and he’s not going to stop just because a hot Quidditch player is here.”

Calum turned to face the Slytherin table again, and as he looked over, he and Michael made eye contact. As Michael smiled at him, Calum could feel a weight lifting off of his chest. He blushed and looked down.

Luke smiled and shook his head at the two of them and then returned to his notes.

* * *

 

It had been a tough match, but the combination of professional Quidditch players evaluating Calum and his team’s own strengths proved just enough of an edge to beat Slytherin. Though their seeker got the snitch, Calum had a shut-out and the Gryffindor chases managed to tear their way through the Slytherin’s defenses.

Calum had spent close to an hour standing in the locker room showers after the game, just filled with quiet content. When he realized the time, he quickly finished showering, dressed, grabbed his stuff and left.

“Finally,” came a voice from his left. “You’ve been in there for ages!”

Calum smiled at Michael, “Just lost track of time, I guess. Were you waiting this whole time?”

Michael stepped closer, “Course I was.”

Calum opened his mouth to say something, and then paused and really looked at Michael. Wearing bright red hair to support Calum, standing there, in the dark, after a Quidditch match so Calum doesn’t have to walk back to the castle alone, is Michael. Michael who always smiles when he sees Calum, even after he’s been pranked. Who’s been looking out for Calum since his first year. Who steals snacks from the Great Hall so that Calum doesn’t die of hunger later during the day.

Michael. Who Calum is in love with. Who Luke swears feels the same way. And right now, under the early evening sky, Calum starts to believe it.

“What?” asks Michael, lips quirking, “You’re giving me a strange look.”

“Just…stand still,” murmurs Calum as he steps closer to Michael.

He has to tilt his head up because Michael is still taller than him, but he leans forward and slowly nudges their noses together. Michael exhales into the space between them and lifts his right hand to Calum’s chin.

“You sure about this?” he whispers.

Calum surges forward and connects their lips, and Michael’s left hand immediately comes around to gently cradle the back of Calum’s head as they kiss. It feels like coming home, dry chapped lips slowly moving against each other, figuring out a rhythm. Eventually, Calum’s smile breaks the case and they lean their foreheads together and just breath.

“Hola,” mumbles Michael, cheeks dimpling.

“Howdy,” laughs Calum.

Michael, eyes bright, darts forward to press one, two, three quick kisses to Calum’s lips. “Come on, it’s freezing out. Let’s go to sleep,” he says, and hands held together, they make their way up to the castle.

* * *

 

(The next morning Lottie corners Calum in the hallway and just stares at him. Calum, having no clue what to do, just looks back. Finally, she smiles, and as she turns to leave, says, “You know that my brother is dating Zayn, right?”)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY Michael and Calum get together. Only one chapter left!  
> Thoughts/Comments?  
> xx


	7. Year 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe the Hogwarts houses don't really matter at all

For the first time ever, Calum wasn’t excited to go back to Hogwarts. It was just before 11:00PM on August 31st, and Calum was stubbornly refusing to go to sleep. His mom had decided that because this was Calum’s last year of school, he could crash at Luke’s and they would floo to the train station tomorrow morning.

What his mom didn’t know was that Luke had invited Michael and Ashton to his house so that the four of them could have a proper good-bye celebration. Currently, Luke and Ashton were in the kitchen trying to figure out how to convert muggle whiskey into firewhiskey, and Michael and Calum were cuddled together on the couch, ignoring the world.

Calum didn’t want to go back to school because it would be the first year that Michael wouldn’t be there, and though Calum loved Luke like a younger brother, it just wouldn’t be the same without Michael.

_And Ashton,_ added Calum guiltily, glancing towards the kitchen.

Ashton and Michael had decided to move in together this year in a small flat off of Diagon Alley. Because Michael’s test scores were record breaking, earning an Outstanding in every N.E.W.T. that he took, he had been flooded with job offers from various ministry offices.

Being Michael, he had been revolted at the idea of going to work for the government, and had instead taken a job with Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes as a researcher, specializing in time-delay pranks with the use of herbology. He had spent the entire summer practicing his pranks on Luke and Ashton. He didn’t prank Calum in fear of Calum withholding cuddles.

_Smart man,_ thought Calum smugly, _I am the cuddle king_.

Ashton, meanwhile, had been accepted into Gringotts’ ward-breaking training program, and so the two had decided that it was practical to share a flat. George Weasley had offered his old flat above the shop to the two of them, but both were smart enough to realize that, by accepting this, they’d become test-subjects.

“AH-HA!” shrieked Ashton, “GUYS, I FIGURED IT OUT!!!”

Luke’s triumphant cry could also be heard, and the two of them came tearing out of the kitchen, stopping at the sight of Michael and Calum curled together on the couch. Identical evil grins spread across their faces, and they rushed the couch, turning Michal and Calum’s cuddlefest into a four-way group hug.

“You know,” mused Calum, face squished into Michael’s neck, “I don’t think I’ll miss the cuddle attacks from you two this year.”

“Oh so you’ll only miss cuddle attacks from Michael,” mocked Luke, “I see how important we are, thanks!” he fake grumbled and went to pull away, but Michael and Calum both wrapped their legs around him.

“Nooooo, now I’m trapped between your legs! Gross!” he started really struggling to get away, Ashton giggling the entire time.

“You know Luke,” he paused, still giggling, “Maybe Michael and Calum want a third!”

“No! No! No!” whined Luke, “I’m still scarred from walking in on the two of them after the Quidditch Final! I don’t want to see that!”

“What, this?” asked Michael, slobbering over Calum’s neck as Calum squirmed and laughed.

“Ugh!” Luke looked down at himself, realizing the futility of extracting himself from the pile, “Ashton, go bring the whiskey!” he commanded, “This needs to be a proper send-off!”

* * *

 

A few hours later, the four of them were very drunk. Michael had rolled off the couch at one moment laughing too hard, so he and Calum were now on the floor, and Luke and Ashton were sitting next to each other leaning against the armchairs.

“It’s just not going to be the same,” slurred Luke. He started to slide down the couch so that his head was resting on Ashton’s shoulder, “Like, what are we even supposed to do without you guys? Who am I going to study with?” Tears started welling in his eyes.

“Alright Lukey,” started Ashton, “I think it’s time for bed, we’ll let those lovebirds have one last night together.” He picked Luke up, slung him over his shoulder and then accidentally whacked his head into the wall as he spun to face Michael and Calum.

“Whoops!” he laughed, “Night guys!”

Michael wrapped his arms around Calum, pulling him tighter to his chest, “I’m really going to miss you this year,” he mumbled into his hair.

Calum felt a smile break across his face, “Are you sure you’re going to miss me? Or are you just going to miss having someone to cuddle with every single second of the day?”

Michael grinned, “I think I’m going to miss this most actually,” he said with a pointed grope to Calum’s ass.

Calum blushed, “Oh shut it.”

Michael huffed out a laugh, before rolling the two of them so that he had pinned Calum to the floor, “Are you going to miss me?”

“Of course,” replied Calum, but Michael wouldn’t lift his head, “Michael, I’m going to miss you so much that it’ll be pathetic. I’ll write you so much that you’ll get sick of it, and you’ll dump me and find a cooler, older guy to date.”

“Not likely,” laughed Michael, lifting his head, “It’ll be more like, now that I’m not there to scare them off, all the guys in school will be trying to date the hot Quidditch captain.”

“Please, you didn’t scare anyone away from me.”

He laughed, “You have no idea how popular you are, or how terrified people are of me. Trust me, now that I’m not there people will be all over you.”

Calum yawned, “Whatever. Michael, would you tell me a story?”

“What like a bedtime story?”

“Nah, like a…like a you story.”

Michael paused, looking up to think, “I’m not quite sure what you want me to say.”

Calum asked hesitantly, “Could you tell me about your sorting?” When Michael quirked a brow, he rushed on, “It’s just that you’re like the least-Hufflepuffy Hufflepuff!”

He snickered, “Yeah, Calum. I’ll tell you about my sorting. But first, let’s go up to bed, otherwise we’ll fall asleep here and wake up with back pain.”

Calum raised his arms, “Carry me,” he pleaded, trying to look pitiful.

“Jesus Christ.” But Michael leaned down and swung Calum up into his arms, “Come on, babe.”

When they were finally curled together in their own room, Calum tshifted so that he was facing Michael.

“Well?” he prompted sleepily.

“Alright, alright!” he laughed, “So you know that Ashton and I were friends before either of us went to Hogwarts, yeah? Well, as we were growing up, we would ask anyone that we could find what house they were in at Hogwarts, and we’d ask them all about their houses.”

“Both of my parents were Slytherins,” he continued, “And so I always thought that I’d be just like them. But it was awesome just hearing the stories, about the brave Gryffindors and the sneaky Slytherins and their pranks and stuff. And Ashton and I were convinced that when we went to Hogwarts, we’d turn that rivalry into a friendly one, because nothing would be able to split up best friends like us, not even different houses.”

“And then Ashton went to Hogwarts, and was sorted into Gryffindor, and he wrote me that first night sounding so excited. But as the weeks went on, his letters became more and more frequent, and I started to worry that he was homesick. So when he came home for Christmas, I was waiting on the platform, and I promised to spend the whole break with him.”

“Basically, what he told me was that he was miserable. You know Ash, he’s like the most friendly guy around, and he felt like he couldn’t be friends with anyone outside of his own house. But Ashton didn’t really like his dorm-mates, and no older students really want to be friends with a first year, and so he just felt really isolated.”

“Anyway, I made him a promise, well,” he glanced at Calum uneasily, “it was actually an unbreakable vow. I know, I know!” he added when Calum shot up in shock, “But it was the only thing that I could do to make him feel better. I promised him that no matter what, I’d never let house rivalries affect our friendship.”

“So then it was my turn to go to Hogwarts, and so we rode the train together, because both of us were nervous even if we’d never admit it, and then it was my turn to be sorted. So I went up, and that old hat was placed on my head, and dude, real quick, can we talk about how freaky that thing is? It talks in your head!” he shudders.

“But basically, it was like, oh wow, you’re smart, you could be a Ravenclaw, and you’re sneaky when you want to be, so you could do well in Slytherin, and you can be brave, so Gryffindor would welcome you and on and on and on, telling me that I can basically pick whichever house I want to. And I’m sitting there, and it’s like, wait what? I can choose?”

“And the hat’s like, well, yeah. Which do you think you’d succeed in? And so I’m sitting there, wondering, when it occurs to me that this fucking hat never told me I could be a Hufflepuff. And like, what’s up with that? So I ask it, and it’s like, oh no, you’d fit much better in these houses, you could have more glory that way, and I’m just there, eleven years old, wondering what the fuck kind of jerk this hat is.”

“Like, it’s basically telling me that Hufflepuff is for losers, and in that moment I was furious. I had listened to Ashton telling me about how he felt like he wasn’t allowed to be anything but a brave Gryffindor, and that he couldn’t act like he was smart, because he’s not a Ravenclaw, and I remembered that everyone we asked about houses before we went to Hogwarts basically tried to sell us on the idea that their house was so much better than the others, and now I have this fucking hat on top of my head telling me that the only way I will be successful is if I buy into this house identity.”

“And, so, I was like, uh fuck no. I want to be in Hufflepuff. I might’ve been a bit mean about it, but I told it that, screw this house thing, I’m just going to be myself, and be friends with anyone that I want, and you can’t stop me. So put me in Hufflepuff, and you can shove my waste of glory up your hat-hole.”

Calum was staring in shock at Michael, “You told that hat to shove off?” he asked disbelievingly.

Michael squirmed, “Well, yeah. Like, I get it, people want to feel like they belong, and want to meet other people like themselves, and there’s nothing wrong with that! But like, I just hated the idea of being sorted into a house and then being told I had to act a certain way. And no one expects anything from Hufflepuffs, which is stupid, because they’re just as decent wizards as anyone else, and so I wanted to be a Hufflepuff.”

Calum started laughing, “Oh my god, this makes so much more sense to me now.”

“Oh, fuck off,” laughed Michael. “You know me, I don’t like to do what people expect me to. And so it put me in Hufflepuff, and the next morning I sat with Ashton at the Gryffindor table, and punched Timothy McQueen in the face when he tried to tell me that I couldn’t. And when the teachers tried to tell me I couldn’t, I just ignored them. And so, eventually, people just started letting me do whatever.”

Calum looked at Michael, “I don’t think I’ve ever been more in love with you than I am right at this moment.”

Michael blushed, and ducked his head down to gently kiss Calum’s forehead, “I fall more in love with you every day.” Michael moved his head and kissed each of Calum’s cheeks, before finally giving him a long, slow kiss, “Come on, bedtime. You’re falling asleep on me here, gonna make me think that I don’t have moves anymore.”

Calum chuckled, pulling up the blankets, “Night Mikey.”

The next morning the four of them arrived at King’s Cross right on time. They went through the barrier in twos, and then it came time to say good bye.

“Before you know it, it’ll be winter break,” said Ashton, hugging Calum tightly, “And then you and Luke can crash at ours.”

“I’ll miss you guys. It just won’t be the same,” replied Calum, hugging harder.

When it was Michael and Calum’s turn to say goodbye, Luke and Ashton discreetly turned away to give them some privacy.

“Promise me that you won’t find a new boyfriend,” asked Calum, clinging to Michael.

“Only if you promise the same thing,” said Michael.

“Deal,” laughed Calum, tears building.

“Hey now,” soothed Michael, “It’s only for a couple months, and we’re going to be writing every day. I promise you that you won’t miss me too much. But if you do,” he added, wiggling his eyebrows, “I can just sneak back into Hogwarts and ask Donna to make sure I don’t get caught. What do you say, a forbidden night in the Room of Requirement?”

Calum laughed, “You wish.” He kissed Michael one last time, and then Luke and Ashton came back.

“Ready, Calum?” asked Luke.

“Yeah,” he said, wiping his face, “Let’s do this.”

And as they clambered onto the Hogwarts Express for the final time, Calum looked around, taking in the sight of the new and returning students and smiled. The older students were rushing around, laughing and hugging each other, while the new students were quietly ducking into compartments, and slowly making friends.When they finally found an empty compartment, Calum glanced out the window one last time, only to see Michael standing there, eyes suspiciously bright, with one hand raised.

_See you soon!_ he mouthed.

Calum grinned and blew him a kiss before turning to Luke.

“Fancy a game of exploding snap?”

Luke laughed, “Only if you promise not to accidentally blow up the compartment door!”

“Hey!” whined Calum, “That was an accident, and it wasn’t even my fault! You can blame Michael and Ashton for that one.” But he smiled as he pulled out the pack of cards and began to deal.

“You know what’s funny?” asked Luke once the train had taken off.

“Hmm?”

“The fact that Michael may be the least-Hufflepuffy person we’ll ever know in most ways, but he does have one trait of Hufflepuff,” Luke glanced up at Calum smiling, “I’ve never met someone more loyal to their friends or loved ones in my life. So maybe he really was sorted correctly then?”

Calum laughed, “Probably. I can’t imagine him any other way.” _And I wouldn’t want to_ , he added silently as the train continued on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness, it's finally over! Thanks for the kind word everyone, and I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Thoughts/Comments?
> 
> xx

**Author's Note:**

> Hola! This is my first fanfic after a very very (very!) long break from writing. I'd love any concrit! You can also find me on tumblr (again, after a very very very long break) as slinkies71!
> 
> I actually got bit by the writing bug after seeing this prompt on tumblr from inflomora-art:
> 
> "Hgfgfff really intimidating Hufflepuff Michael who always gets told off by his teachers for breaking the dress code bc he shows up to class with his tie undone and sleeves rolled up so you can see his tattoos and he kicks his boots up onto the desk. But also he's done all of his homework and gets good grades and everyone in his house really loves him and he tutors kids in herbology and he makes his own little plant patch to sew on his jeans and Ashton tells him it's not very punk rock and Michael kicks at him and tells him to shut up."
> 
> This will span the 7 years that the boys will be at Hogwarts, and will definitely be a slow-build.
> 
> xox
> 
>  
> 
> PS: If anyone is interesting in being a beta, or knows someone who would, I'd be forever grateful. My normal beta is off doing the Peace Corps and so is somewhat unavailable!


End file.
